James Francis Edward Keith

James Keith, aged 24

When Keith was finally convinced to leave Paris (he had fallen in love),[14] he journeyed to Spain with his brother. They had to deceive the customs agents at the borders about their destination, purpose and origins, Spain being actively engaged in trying to secure the French throne for Philip V in the War of the Quadruple Alliance. Keith and his brother journeyed to Madrid, raising funds for an army for James, arranging for its transport to Scotland, and communicating the king's designs to the various Scottish chieftains throughout Europe. At one point in his adventures in Spain, he carried a small note from the James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde and 18,000 crowns to purchase frigates destined to carry an army to Scotland; he returned to France quietly, leaving his brother in Spain to sail with troops to the coast of Scotland. Trying to return to Paris, while in Bordeaux, he masqueraded as a friend's servant so he could acquire some horses to get back to Paris.[15]

In the course of communicating with Jacobite sympathizers in Spain and France, Keith realised that there was a considerable division of factions among James's supporters. The sides all wanted Keith to communicate one thing, or another, often contradictory, to the king, all of which Keith considered favoured their private ends, not the needs of the king or the goals of the campaign. Eventually, the Jacobites embarked for the Isle of Lewis on 19 March in a small ship, from the mouth of the Seine, and set course to round the Orkney Islands The wind forced them off course until, after 24 March, they had altered course and managed to slip past a squadron of Royal Navy men-of-war which were transporting troops from Ireland to England: news of a conspiracy had reached London by then, and the Government had prepared for the uprising.[16]

The Jacobite efforts were further complicated by bickering among the chiefs as to who should take command. Initially, this was awarded to the Marischall, Keith's brother, but the following day, after a long speech by William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine "which", Keith later wrote, "no body understood but himself,"[16] Murray presented his own commission as lieutenant general, outranking the Marischall's, whose commission of command was only as major general. There was, apparently, considerable subsequent disagreement about how the rebellion should proceed, some wishing to wait for the Duke of Ormonde's 500 Spanish marines on the way from Spain. Knowing that the Government forces had discovered their landing place, Keith's brother convinced Murray to disembark all the troops they had and send the Spanish ships home; the Government forces would inevitably blockade the ships in the harbor and losing the ships would endanger their relationship with Spain.[17]

Unfortunately for the rebellion, Ormonde's fleet had been disbanded by a storm near Galicia, and the soonest the Spanish would raise another one would be the following spring. Time to mount any rebellion was running short. The Jacobites were poorly armed and even more poorly provisioned and the Government force was three days march away. The nearby clans made an effort to raise additional troops, but gathered only about 1,000. The Government forces approached with four regiments of foot and a detachment of a fifth regiment, plus 150 dragoons. The Jacobite position was secure enough, but on 10 June, the Government force came out of the mountains and attacked; in short order, the Royal Navy captured Eilean Donan Castle and, at the Battle of Glen Shiel, the Government forces defeated the small Jacobite army. The Jacobites decided that they should disperse and the Spaniards surrender.[18]

Keith spent several months lurking in the mountains and, in early September, embarked for Holland from Peterhead. Upon trying to cross France to reach Spain, the brothers were arrested at Sedan, and ordered to prison. Keith had in his pocket a pair of commissions from the King of Spain, items which would cause them great trouble, but his jailers did not search him, nor ask for his name. For safety, "pretending a certain necessity, [he] threw them in to a place needless to be named."[18]

During the Seven Years' War, Keith held high command in the Prussian army. In 1756, he commanded the troops covering the investment of Pirna, and distinguished himself at Lobositz.[23] The battle at Lobositz was a particularly difficult situation. Frederick, in what was his typical manner, dismissed Austrian capability; he sent his columns directly into a valley surrounded by Croatian sharpshooters.

The failure of his troops to make any headway against Lacy's troops, and indeed their apparent collapse, caused Frederick to feel the battle lost, and to leave the field. Upon his departure, command devolved to Keith. Initially Keith made no headway against the Austrian front, but when Lacy was wounded, his subordinates did not have the same command vision, and Keith was able to make some progress against the Austrian front, actually rolling up the Austrian lines to the north and south of Lobositz. The overall Austrian commander, George Browne, had never intended to make this a major battle, and so withdrew the entire force to Budin, approximately eight kilometers (5 mi) away.[24]

In 1757, he commanded at the siege of Prague and later, in this same campaign, he defended Leipzig against a greatly superior force. He was also present at Rossbach, and, while the king was fighting at Leuthen,[23] joined with Prince Henry's force in Saxony.[4]

In 1758, Keith took a prominent part in the Moravian campaign, after which he withdrew from the army to restore his broken health. He returned in time for the autumn campaign in the Lausitz region, and was killed on 14 October 1758 at the battle of Hochkirch.[23] He had been shot several times; the final shot knocked him off his horse into his groom's arms. The groom was dragged away, leaving Keith's body behind.

Although stripped bare by the time the Austrians found him on the battlefield the following day, he was recognised by Lacy, the son of Peter Lacy, his old commander in Russia. The Austrians gave him a decent burial on the field; his groom, who had crept back to the battlefield, observed this and marked the location. Keith was transferred shortly afterwards by Frederick to the garrison church of Berlin.[4]

Frederick commemorated Keith on the Rheinsberg Obelisk

While at the University of Edinburgh, James Keith acquired a taste for literature and learning that secured him the esteem of the most distinguished savants of Europe.[23] His experiences in the Jacobite uprisings, and his observations of the contentious competition between and among the clan chieftains, offered him the opportunity early to learn the pitfalls of command, the arts of negotiation, and the importance of listening and diplomacy. This skill was further sharped during the intrigues of the Russian court, where he served for 17 years.[25] He displayed in numerous campaigns the calm, intelligent and watchful valour which was his chief characteristic.[23]

In his personal relationships, he demonstrated calmness and loyalty. In this he was the opposite of his father, who had been described as "very wild, inconstant and passionate."[26] In Finland, he met Eva Merthen.[27] Although they never married, they had several children.[4]

Keith became one of Frederick's chief allies and friends. Keith developed a game of chess for Frederick, life-sized, that the two would play; Frederick also travelled incognito with Keith throughout Germany and Hungary.

At his final battle, he had remonstrated with the king about establishing the camp at Hochkirch, with the Austrians looming in the heights around them, pointing out that staying in the village was suicide. "If the Austrians leave us unmolested in this camp", Keith told the king, "they deserve to be hanged." Frederick reportedly replied, "it is to be hoped they are more afraid of us than of the gallows."[4][28] Frederick was devastated by Keith's death at Hochkirch.